Friday, April 25, 2008

For Sirius

I had a fun time on Sirius Satellite Radio's political talk show Blog Bunker with host Joe Salzone.


The channel is Indie Talk 110, and I think it happens every day at 5:00-6:00PM. I like to think of it as "A cutting-edge roundtable featuring a selection of the over 100 million bloggers around the globe". So does the Sirius website.


Alex DiTrolio is a producer who pops in as co-host on occasion.


There's another gentleman named Aaron Hodges whose job is to check the levels and tell me to stop chattering.


The first time I did the show in early March, I walked in when it was already in progress. I heard Joe make fun of John McCain, so when I got the headphones on, I said, "So I take it you're a liberal?" Then he insisted that he's so much of a conservative that John McCain isn't far right ENOUGH in his opinion. I don't pick a political side (malleable mind alert, cult gurus apply within), but I know which issues matter to me, and the people who lean right don't always tend to share the same views I do. In other words, I nodded and thought, "Uh huh. That's good. You're going to eat me alive".

My mother raised me never to talk politics with strangers, so I am tongue-tied on a regular basis, even if I happen to agree with what's being said. Joe is a pro at keeping the ball rolling, so he balanced my meeker moments with his own jokes. We finally found common ground in a strong dislike for pant suits. Then some callers chimed in which gave Joe reason to go off on passionate tangents about Ron Paul.

Despite feeling like the lady at a football game who says, "Why do people in the NBL always take so long to shoot their touchback goals?" I was invited back for a second spot. This time I was prepped with the topics and knew the drill. The only reason to sweat was from a sweltering commute. Alex gave me water, and we were off and running. She held down the fort and tried to keep us on track when I theorized that a Pennsylvania win might be linked to a winning badonka-donk. I like a world where liberals and conservatives can unite to make fun of old, overweight ladies.

I was given the grand tour of the studios and the offices, met some employees and saw the cubicles of my dreams. Maybe cubicles only appear in your nightmares, but you clearly haven't watched Three Men & a Baby and thought, "I'm going to grow up and paint pictures of my friends on my office walls...I want to be just like Steve Guttenberg." These were chest-level, individually decorated fun zones with absolutely no people in them. The folks that were walking around wore jeans and radiated knowledge of all music bands in existence. I heard someone grumbling about deadlines, but that's the only sign of Corporate America I noticed.

In the lobby there was a seasoned man drinking a can of Schweppe's. He had tight jeans, his foot on the coffee table, and a cell phone to his face. Joe and I guessed he was a rock star we should have recognized, but I don't even know the other two members of the Rolling Stones.


"Ahem. We are Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. And you're forgetting Ian Stewart (not pictured), and original frontman Brian Jones."

I still don't know you.

It was a very fun time on a very well-run show with some very skilled radio folks, and I highly recommend you tune in. It's also the best place to learn how to vote for the next Commissar of Greenland.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I almost thought that celebrity likeness was, in fact, me. I need to see an eye doctor, stat.

DiSa said...

You really nailed Aaron. He's just like that, only with fewer freckles.

I'd like to point out that Guttenberg may be referred to simply as Gutts from here on out.

Abbi Crutchfield said...

JZ, I think I'll leave the celebs up since they're dead on.

Lady Di, I will murmer Gutts under my breath periodically throughout the day to make myself laugh.